As much as the season grinds, pitcher Brian Anderson doesn't take anything
for granted, although he's beyond the awe stage in his big-league career.

"I'm not going to be this guy who says, "Every day I wake up and I pinch
myself,' " Anderson said. "That's not even reality. But there are times that
I sit around and I look around and I think just how fortunate I am, how fortunate
we are to be doing what we're doing. You think about it, they pay us an
exorbitant amount of money to play a game.

But Anderson says, even when things in the job get him down, the smart thing
to do is not complain and press on.

"People in the real world aren't going to feel sorry for us," Anderson said.
"My father (Jim) still owns a ma-and-pop tire shop in Geneva (Ohio) and he
works 10 times harder than I do and doesn't make anything. Guys like that
have a hard time looking at us, saying, 'You guys have it so rough.'

"Maybe it's relevant to our lives, but it's not going to go over too well
in the public. It's better to just keep your mouth shut."

QUOTE, UNQUOTE:

Anderson On Anderson: "Just to be able to pitch was really something, and
I thank the Lord for that ball not hitting me in a bad spot in Chicago. Without
that, I wouldn't have even been out there. As for the game, teams have been
loading up with left handers, but I changed my delivery a little and came
at them from a different release angle, and that helped. As for the rotation,
I know that with Stott coming back that gives us five starters, and we go
with a five-man rotation, so I can do the math. I was real good at it in
high school and college."